September 03, 2007	Monday	Sha'aban 20, 1428

GUJRANWALA, Sept 2: Sanitation situation has worsened despite an army of 1,800 sanitary workers and their supervisors employed with the city district government and citizens face miseries due to choked gutters and heaps of garbage lying around the city and they demand immediate overhauling of the system.

After the dissolution of former Municipal Corporation, four towns including Khiali Shahpur, Qila Dedar Singh, Aroop and Nandipur were established and sanitation staff and supervisors of the defunct municipal corporation were also transferred to these towns.

But, later the city district government withdrew entire sanitation system from these towns and took it under its own control a year ago.

According to sources, this decision hampered the sanitation work in the city, which started worsening day by day without any sign of improvement.

Sources said there were around 1,800 sanitary workers including 350 daily wagers, 40 supervisors, 14 sanitary inspectors and two chief sanitary inspectors along with district officer and executive district officer on the pay role of the Health Department of the city district government.

They are withdrawing monthly salaries worth Rs13 million but no improvement in the sanitary situation has been witnessed as most of the roads and streets are either inundated with water oozing from gutters and drains or littered with solid waste.

Though the city district government has purchased additional tractor-trolleys, carts and other machinery to remove and dump garbage during the current fiscal year, sanitation system could not deliver.